ASYLUM SEEKERS held a fourth consecutive day of protests at the Mosney accommodation centre in Co Meath yesterday to protest at a Government decision to move them to centres across the State.
The vast majority of the 111 people directed by the Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) to move to Hatch Hall in Dublin have refused to leave.
A bus commissioned to bring the asylum seekers from the former Butlins holiday camp to Dublin left the centre empty in the afternoon, the third day that no one boarded the bus.
It is understood two asylum seekers living at Mosney have voluntarily made their own way to the Hatch Hall hostel.
Residents Against Racism, an NGO taking part in the daily protests, said it was appalling that the RIA had not yet agreed to meet the residents of Mosney to discuss the transfer orders. It said a committee of asylum seekers had been set up at Mosney to try to find a solution but they had not been called to any meeting. The RIA should keep the 150 places at Mosney and reduce capacity at other centres, which have very poor conditions, according to the Residents Against Racism.
Ivo, a Nigerian asylum seeker on the committee, said he hoped a meeting between RIA and the Irish Refugee Council today could provide a solution.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Justice said the cut in capacity from 800 to 650 in RIA’s new contract with Mosney, which is expected to save €1.8 million, would not be changed.
He said the 111 asylum seekers issued with transfer orders would not be forcibly removed to Hatch Hall and were free to come and go.
However, under the rules of the direct-provision system, asylum seekers who do not stay in their allocated centre can lose their weekly allowance of €19.10 and their entitlement to a bed.